The Nyack school district is proposing a $75.5 million budget that requires no layoffs but will use surplus funds to help pay for increased school security, new textbooks and enhanced special-education programs.

The 2013-14 spending plan calls for the tax levy to rise by 3.5 percent, but that falls within the state tax cap counting exemptions. The levy — the total amount collected from property taxes — would increase to $65.4 million from $63.2 million.

Superintendent James Montesano said the plan is larger than the current budget by 3.9 percent, but most of the increases are dictated by mandated cost for pensions and health insurance. The district will use $475,000 from its reserve funds.

“We think it’s a solid budget that will continue to maintain our schools and move them forward,” he said.

The district expects to get $7.7 million in state aid, about the same as this year. It will not get any federal stimulus money in 2013-14, unlike previous years in which it benefited from more than $3 million.

The public votes May 21. Because the budget falls under the tax cap, only a simple majority is needed to approve it.

Michael Mark, vice president of the Nyack Board of Education, called the proposed budget “very encouraging.”

“The superintendent and staff did a great job of putting together a budget that stays within the mandated cap, while retaining all programs,” Mark told The Journal News. “It looks as though the financial environment is going to continue to be tight for the next couple of years, but taking budgets one year at a time, this year looks good for the Nyack School District.”

Montesano said the district took steps in prior years to control expenses while preserving programs. He said programming would represent 81 percent of the budget, up from 78 percent in 2008-09. Capital expenses and administrative costs now both represent a smaller part of the budget, 9 and 10 percent, respectively.

Some factors driving up costs are teacher pension contributions, which are rising 37 percent from this year; health insurance rates that are going up 8 percent; and the uncertainty of what added costs the district may face under the new Affordable Care Act, he said.

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The district plans to buy new math textbooks for students from kindergarten to eighth grade and will reinstate a student assistance counselor at the high school. It also will open two new self-contained programs for autistic students in the elementary grades, and expand special-education services in the high school, which could provide savings by reducing out-of-district placement costs.

District officials are exploring a new scheduling format in the middle school, which would see students work in teams of about 100, Montesano said. If approved by the school board April 9, the schedule would begin with the new school year. The change would not cost district taxpayers more or change staff levels, he said.

With security an even greater concern since the Newtown school massacre in December, the district proposes spending $125,000 to bolster security at its high school, middle school and three elementary schools. The plan is to install a card reader on the front doors of each school and possibly at the bathrooms at the high school. High school students could be issued access cards that would double as photo identification.

“We haven’t quite made that determination yet,” Montesano said.

Visitors would have their driver’s license scanned at all of the schools’ entrances, and the system would be tied to a sexual-predator database to flag any potential threats, he said.

A citizens advisory committee is studying other security measures. He said the district may put up a bond referendum in the fall to boost the number of cameras at the school and install shatterproof glass, among other steps. Details are to be finalized in June and would need school board approval, he said.